Campus Site Search Sets Up Possible Duel Between Santa Paula, Fillmore

Ventura College has begun its search for a location to build a $25-million East Campus in the Santa Clara Valley to serve as a technology center for local businesses and provide classes for nearly 2,000 valley students now enrolled at the community college.

The search is likely to prompt a spirited competition between the only two cities in the bucolic valley, Santa Paula and Fillmore, because a new college would boost the profile and economy of either farm community.

The two cities, located about 10 miles apart, are among the oldest and poorest in Ventura County. And city leaders say they are interested in bringing the new campus to town.

The existing East Campus, which has nearly 900 students, is housed in aging buildings on Main Street in Santa Paula. And city leaders say they want the new, larger campus to remain in their city, which is about double the size of Fillmore.

This week, the Santa Paula City Council declared development of the college a primary goal and directed staffers to help the college district find a site.

“It would be terrific,” Councilwoman Mary Ann Krause said. “And we want to work hand in hand with them so there’s no delays or misunderstandings or confusion. We see this as a key component of our economic development strategy. It is an opportunity to attract new businesses whose employees could be trained through the college.”

Wally Bobkiewicz, Santa Paula city manager, said he thinks the college is interested in land near state Highway 126 just east of the city.

“There are some properties just beyond the city limits that might work,” he said. “So we’re going to continue to work closely with the college to ensure their East Campus stays in Santa Paula.”

College district officials described their East Campus goals at a meeting in December with Santa Paula community leaders. Ventura College President Larry Calderon also discussed the project at a special goal-setting meeting by the Santa Paula City Council about two weeks ago.

College officials plan a similar presentation to Fillmore and Piru leaders within the next month or so.

Fillmore Mayor Evaristo Barajas said he had heard about the new campus but did not have any information yet.

“It’s something I’d be interested in looking at,” he said.

College officials hope a sparkling new educational facility will be a strong enough incentive to convince local officials to help them find a good campus location for a drastically reduced price, or for free.

That is because Measure S, the $356-million bond issue Ventura County voters approved for community college district construction last March, does not include money for land purchases.

“Our hope is we will get a donation of a site,” said Linda Rubenstein, coordinator of off-campus programs for Ventura College. “It doesn’t have to be in Santa Paula. It could be in Fillmore or anywhere in the Santa Clara River Valley.”

Rubenstein said the college is just now beginning its planning for the new campus, and its precise academic mission and location are hardly set in stone. Community committees are being established to move in a common direction, she said.

“We know we will have a facility,” she said. “But we’re still developing what that facility is going to look like and what’s going to be in that facility. And what we plan today may not be what we end up with. It’s fluid.”

Nonetheless, in concept, the new campus would have an emphasis on high technology, she said. “It would be a magnet not only for students, but probably most for business and industry. [The vision] is to have a well-trained work force in this area.”

Part of the plan is that Ventura County would move its career center and social service offices onto the campus, so it would be a true community center and not a separate college, she said. Santa Paula had once considered moving its City Hall there, too, but that idea has faded, officials said.

“What we’re dealing with at the moment is a kind of wish list for the campus,” said Handel Evans, a college district consultant overseeing Measure S construction plans. “We’re trying to survey what is needed out there. When we have that academic master plan, then we can say how much land we need.”

Voters in Santa Paula and Fillmore have approved growth limits in recent years, attempting to protect the vast agricultural greenbelts around the cities. But public educational projects are generally exempt from such limits as long as city councils agree to provide basic services for them.

Bobkiewicz said that as long as the campus site is used primarily for education, only city approval and annexation through a state planning agency would be necessary.

Barajas, the Fillmore mayor, said his city is so short of vacant land that the project would be a tight fit. The city’s growth limits, however, allow expansion of up to 10 acres a year for public facilities, he said.